Pontcanna

Tile Doctor was contacted by a homeowner from the Pontcanna area of Cardiff about the Quarry tiled path leading up to their property. A local tile restoration company had told them that their pathway was beyond repair and had advised replacing it with new tiles at significant cost. I’m based in Cardiff and cover Southeast Wales so the enquiry was past along to myself.

I contacted the client and arranged a survey which confirmed the pathway was indeed in a very poor condition. Lots of tiles were missing or cracked all of which would need replacing and some of the exposed concrete foundation would also need work.

I assured the client that I could make it look respectable again without spending a fortune. They were more than happy with my affordable restoration plan and accepted the quote. Work like this is best done during dry weather so we waited until there was a good weather window before starting.

Repairing a Quarry Tiled Path in Cardiff

The first task was to carry out the large number of repairs and replacements including breaking the damaged sections of concrete foundation. The various areas were then cleaned up and the foundation rebuilt where necessary.

Once the foundation had set, work started on the tiling using new similar colour tiles along the borders and main path that I was able to source before starting work. The whole pathway was then grouted in using a durable cementitious filler.

Once the new tiles had set firmly and grout hardened, I started the cleaning process.

Deep Cleaning a Quarry Tiled Path in Cardiff

Working from the front door as it’s on a slope to the street pavement I applied a mixture of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean combined 50:50 with Tile Doctor Nanotech HBU to the tiles and allowed it to soak in. After about fifteen minutes the solution was worked into the tiles one square metre at a time by hand using a coarse black pad cut from a 17-inch pad. Once the pathway was cleaned, I rinsed the whole area with clean water and extracted the waste using a wet vacuum.

The next stage was to rinse the pathway with neat Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up. This is scrubbed in to remove old cement, some of which must have been 100 years old. Once done the soiling was extracted and the path was given a final rinse with water.

Sealing a Tiled Pathway

The final stage was to seal the pathway tiles. Fortunately, we had a dry spell for a week or two otherwise I would have had to wait for a weather window to ensure the tiles were dry before sealing. Applying sealer to damp external tiles will lock in the moisture which would then freeze over winter causing it to expand and disrupt the sealer.

Once the floor had time to dry for a couple of days it was checked for moisture and proved within the limits to take a sealer. The chosen Sealer was Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a very durable sealer as it’s an impregnator, meaning it soaks into the body of the tile preventing dirt from residing there.

As you can once complete the path looked fantastic and the colour enhancing formula in the sealer highlighted the vibrant reds in the tile bringing the whole project to life. The client was delighted and recommended Tile Doctor to many friends, family and neighbours in the street.

Professional Restoration of a Quarry Tiled Path in Cardiff